Red Electrica de Espana (Spanish Transmission System Operator) and partners have teamed up with the aim of carrying out projects for the recovery of seagrass meadows in degraded areas.

Main goals are:

Promote the conservation of biological diversity through active collaboration on initiatives to curb its loss.
Promote research, development and the use of new technologies and processes, in order to avoid or minimise environmental impacts.
Develop and provide ongoing actions regarding training, awareness and motivation on environmental protection.
Adopt a commitment against climate change.

Main stages will be:

Location analysis. The aim is to identify a degraded Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadow that due to its location, environmental characteristics, sources of disturbance and level of legal protection is suitable for restoration.
Planting process design. The design of the planting process will be based on the experience gained in the research, development and innovation project of Red Electrica, Recovery of Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadows. And innovative technique' and other previous projects developed by the IMEDEA- CSIC in the field of ecology of Posidonia oceanica seedlings. A limiting factor considered when establishing both the degraded area to replant and the planting density and spatial pattern is the availability of seagrass material for transplantation. For this reason the project considers using two sources of material for planting: seedlings obtained from beach-cast fruits and adult plant sections resulting from natural fragmentation and collected in situ.

Design of monitoring and control of planted areas. The objective is to determine the success of the planted area which means assessing both the evolution of the material transplanted and the recovery of the functionality of the restored ecosystem. So, on the one hand the assessment will include the survival and growth rate achieved by the seedlings and the transplanted fragments over time (half-yearly / yearly after a prior post-transplantation control). On the other hand, the recovery of the functionality of the transplanted material as a habitat for biodiversity found in Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadows and other ecosystem functions such as substrate stabilization, acting as a CO2 sink etc.

Design of conservation measures. The conservation measures necessary for the preservation of the area will be studied in consensus with the various social agents who may be involved or affected.

Environmental education and project communication. Different communication milestones associated to the project and their corresponding communication plan shall be established. Additionally, various compatible environmental education activities shall be carried out in order to disseminate information regarding the conservation of seagrass meadows.

Monitoring and Control. We will design and monitor the work to be executed.